King responds to Candy trademark allegations

Candy Crush dev says it would not ask developers to remove games if term was being used 'legitimately'.

Candy Crush Saga developer King has responded to allegations that it has asked iOS developers to remove games featuring the word 'Candy' from the App Store, claiming that it would not ask studios to remove their game if the term was being used "legitimately".

In a statement issued to VideoGamer.com this morning, a King spokesperson confirmed that the company had "trademarked the word 'CANDY' in the EU, as our IP is constantly being infringed and we have to enforce our rights and to protect our players from confusion.

"We don't enforce against all uses of CANDY – some are legitimate and of course, we would not ask App developers who use the term legitimately to stop doing so."

Commenting directly on the situation with Benny Hsu, who was reportedly asked to remove his game Candy Casino Slots from the App Store, King accused the title of being in "clear breach of Apple's terms of use".

"The particular App in this instance was called 'Candy Casino Slots – Jewels Craze Connect: Big Blast Mania Land', but its icon in the App store just says 'Candy Slots', focussing heavily on our trademark," King said. "As well as infringing our and other developer's IP, use of keywords like this as an App name is also a clear breach of Apple's terms of use. We believe this App name was a calculated attempt to use other companies’ IP to enhance its own games, through means such as search rankings."

In response to King's initial request, Hsu told gamezebo.com that he would “[change] the name if that is what I must do."